True Love III
by Gill Jr
Summary: See part I.


Title: True Love II: Separate Ways  
  
Author: Gill, Jr.  
  
E-mail address: MmentMori@aol.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Category: SAR  
  
Spoilers: Nada!   
  
Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance, Alternate Universe, Angst, so on, and so on.  
  
Summary: Fox and Dana keep in touch even when Fox goes to college. But things go wrong when he meets Phoebe Greene.  
  
Disclaimer: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, and Phoebe Greene don't belong to me. (Hey, did you notice that I didn't dare put Mulder and Phoebe's names together? He he he!) They belong to CC, 1013, and the gang. Hey, don't sue me! I'd get my social studies teacher, who's the best darn lawyer on Earth to defend me, and you KNOW who would win!  Mark (What's up, man!) Kalanish, Kyle Gumto, Paul Christiensen, and Tom Adamovitz are all friends of mine. You may use them with permission. :) Oh, and PSST! By the way, of the 3 X-Files characters I've mentioned, I'd only want to own 2 of them. I think you know who.   
  
Author's Notes: To make this official, the idea for this story came to me at approximately 8:50 P.M. on May 15, 1999, the day before the 6th season finale - WOW! ;) But seriously, I wrote the first part of this story back in December of "98. Yes, I know, that's not TOO long ago, but for me, it sure seems like it! All kinds of people e-mailed me and politely requested for me to make a sequel to the first True Love story. I had always thought it would be a good idea, but I never knew how to go about it. So I hope this story is up to snuff and will be able to compare to True Love I...I think it may be one of the best things I've ever done. Hey, one more thing before I start. On May 17 (two days) I will have been an X-Phile for exactly two years! Yup, my first ep. was Gethsemane. I didn't really like the show, but I liked Gillian and stayed for her. Then, the UST caught me, and, whoop-de-doo, now I'm a Shipper, LOL! Enough of this mindless rambling. On to the show! ;)  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~True Love II: Separate Ways~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
A fanfic by Gill, Jr.  
  
January 10, 1983  
  
The date was January 10, 1983, exactly four years after Dana Scully had met Fox Mulder at a dance. In fact, that was what Dana was thinking about right now. The fall of 1979 was one of the hardest times of her life - it was when Fox went away to college. She was still stuck in crappy old Maryland while Fox went to Oxford over in England. He promised to write her - and he did. The letters would come once a week, usually on a Monday. She would reply to them immediately and usually send them off the next day. But she noticed that in the last year or so, the letters quit coming so often. Now, they'd come every two weeks, if she was lucky. She definitely knew something was up. She'd asked him in one of her letters exactly what was going on, and if he was okay, but he had simply ignored it and pretended like she hadn't even mentioned it.   
  
she thought.  
  
she rationalized. But the thought still nagged at her. She shook her head, as if to shake the thought from her brain and reached over to shut her lamp off. It was only 11:30, but she knew she'd better get some rest before class tomorrow. She was in her first year of college at Berkeley and was already very busy with all her medical training classes. Taking her terrycloth robe off, she snuggled under the covers and slept.  
  
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Late August of 1979  
  
The phone downstairs rang. Dana put her pencil down when she heard Melissa's voice shout up the stairs.  
  
"It's for you, Dane!"  
  
She walked out the door, trotted down the stairs, and took the phone from her sister's hands. "Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Dana," a deep, masculine voice said. She recognized it immediately.  
  
"Fox! What's wrong?"  
  
Melissa could somehow sense that something was wrong, so she left the room. She was weird like that. Just a few years ago, she'd been lapsing into the Gothic/fortune telling crap, or whatever you want to call it. She thought she had ESP. You had to admit, it was freaky how she'd predict things. On a couple of occasions, she'd predicted a victory for Dana's soccer team and had been right every time.   
  
"Well, I...um...I need to tell you something."  
  
"What? What is it?"  
  
"This might be one of the last times we get to see each other."  
  
"What?!" Dana asked, alarmed.  
  
"I leave for college in two weeks." Dana felt her heart sink. She offered a pathetic "Oh."   
  
"I'm afraid we won't see each other until this summer," he replied, his voice just as jaded as hers.  
  
"Well, you could always go to a local college, couldn't you?"  
  
"Dana, I would if I could, but the school I want to is far away."  
  
"How far? I can visit you."  
  
"England." She felt her heart sink to her feet.  
  
"Oh my God..." she was speechless.  
  
"I know." There was a few moments of silence. "That's the reason I'm calling. I think we should spend as much time together as we can before I leave."  
  
"Right."  
  
"Can you come over tonight?" She paused for a moment.  
  
"Yeah, I might be able to stay for a little while. Can I check with my parents?"  
  
"Sure."   
  
A few minutes later, Dana came back to the phone. "Yeah, I can come over. But I have to be back by 11."  
  
"Fine. I'll pick you up in ten minutes."  
  
Dana put on her black leather jacket and waited for Fox on her front porch. The wind outside had a bit of a chill to it.   
  
she thought, sadly. It felt as if her life was, too.  
  
She saw a woman walk by with a dog on a leash. The woman said hi, so Dana said 'hi' back and smiled just to be nice. Then, a young couple, two kids not much older than Fox and her, walked down the street. She felt her eyes sting with unshed tears, but she would not let herself break. She closed her eyes, and rubbed at her temples, trying to erase her mind of everything. Too bad it didn't work. Just then, she heard the motor of a truck and saw the bright lights of Fox's truck pulling into her driveway. She waved, then hopped in the passenger's side. Fox beeped the horn to let her parents know that they were leaving, then pulled out of the driveway and into the street.   
  
"I don't have anything planned for tonight. I hope you don't mind."  
  
She smiled sadly. "I don't mind."  
  
"I just...wanted to spend some time with you, and do it as soon as possible before our time runs out." She nodded and touched his arm.  
  
"I understand." He looked at her for a brief moment and smiled.   
  
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January 10, 1983  
  
Fox went back to the United States every summer to be with Dana and his family. After three years, it was still clear that he still loved her, but it appeared that something was nagging at him. Dana never did get a chance to ask him, and he wasn't talking, so she decided not to press him. Yet she always wondered what the heck was going on.  
  
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January 10, 1983  
  
Fox tossed and turned in his bed, careful not to disturb the figure sleeping next to him. He just couldn't sleep. Dana had been on his mind lately. He hadn't seen her in over 6 months. And he had a secret. He knew he should have told her, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Dana was his girlfriend, his love, his EVERYTHING. What he had to tell her would break her heart. And though he would never, ever want to see her hurt, he knew he'd have to tell her sometime.   
  
"What's wrong, Fox?"  
  
"Nothing, Phoebe. Go back to bed."   
  
He had been seeing Phoebe Greene ever since the beginning of '82. He didn't know why he sought out another person, really. Maybe it was because he was a unique person. He had been lonely ever since Samantha had disappeared...maybe it was because he couldn't be without love. But he wasn't really sure that Phoebe loved him...it was just *lust*. She was a game player. She teased him and dared him all the time. One time, she even dared him to make love to her on their Lit. professor's desk. He had almost declined, *almost*. Something was nagging at him. His loyalty to Dana, he supposed. And besides, if he refused, he feared what the consequences would be. He knew Phoebe would be pissed at him. So he did it quick and just got it over with. He felt like scum afterwards. At least he wasn't a virgin. He had lost his virginity to Dana a few months before he left for college. It had been very special. But he knew that if he was still a virgin, he wouldn't have had sex with Phoebe. He *liked* Phoebe. There didn't seem to be much else there. He felt movement beside him - Phoebe again. He knew they were breaking the rules; no girls in the boys' dorms. But he was taking risks again, all for Phoebe's mind games.   
  
He turned over so that he was lying face up. Then, it hit him.  
  
_ And he really wasn't. But what was he supposed to tell her, and HOW? He knew Dana would rationalize and tell him to 'just say no.'   
  
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to get some sleep. He turned over, away from Phoebe, unaware that she was grinning in the dark. She had a plan, an evil, evil plan. Once he was asleep, she would sneak out of bed, write a letter to that Dana girl, and get her out of the picture. She struggled not to laugh. A few minutes later, she heard Fox start to snore. As slow and delicate as a cat, she withdrew herself from the sheets, got dressed, and went down to the library. She asked a librarian who was nearby for a piece of paper, an envelope, and a pencil. She sat down at a table in the corner and started writing, hoping that her writing looked like Fox's. It actually *did* resemble his. The letter read:  
  
Dear Dana,  
I am writing this letter to you to let you know that our relationship is over. I would not like to discuss exactly why, and hope that you will respect my wishes. I just can't go on. I hope you will understand. And I also hope that someday, you'll find someone who's worthy of you...someone unlike me. I hope you have a really nice life, and I hope you pursue your career in medicine. You'd make a really great doctor.   
  
_

Love,  
Fox  


  
She was proud of herself. From only reading two of Dana's letters to Fox, she was able to get all of this information. She had hunted down one of the envelopes. She pulled it out of her pocket and copied Dana's address onto the blank envelope. Then, she folded the letter and put it into the envelope. Then, she sealed it, put a stamp on it, and put it in the mailbox that was stationed outside. She then smiled, laughed, and went back upstairs to Fox's dorm.  


  


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January 17, 1983  
  
Dana went downstairs to the front desk of the college and asked one of the clerks to check her mailbox for her. She brought back a single letter with Fox's address at the top.  
  
_ She smiled.  
  
She brought the letter upstairs with her to her dorm and sat down on a chair. No one was in the room - it was absolutely quiet. And the sun was shining brightly through the windows - no need to turn on the lights. She pulled out a foot rest and put her feet on it, stretching out her legs, short as they were. Still smiling, she carefully tore open the envelope and lifted the letter from it. She opened it and read.  
  
She gasped.  
  
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It was now a week after Dana had received Fox's last letter. She had intended on replying to it, but she had to get up the courage and organize her thoughts before she could. Finally, she thought she was ready. She took out her typewriter - she really didn't feel like writing. She typed furiously at the keys. She typed all she could think to say, then wrote, "Sincerely, Dana." She didn't even write 'love.' Just 'sincerely.' Plain, old, 'sincerely.' A harmless word that employers put at the bottom of memos sent to their employees; not a word that one would put in closing to a letter going to her lover.   
  
She pulled the paper out of the typewriter, still in a state of denial.  
  
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January 24, 1983  
  
Fox was sitting at a table in the cafeteria, where one of the instructors was handing out incoming mail. Surprisingly, he heard his name called. He went up to the podium to get his mail and sat down with it at his table. It was from Dana.   
  
  
  
He tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter and read it. He tried to keep it private from the other boys sitting next to him at the table. They were so immature - always teasing him about Dana. The letter read:  
  
Dear Fox,  
I just got your letter a few days ago. I must say, I am very surprised. I thought that you loved me, but I guess I'm wrong - again! This happened before, remember? You told me that I 'filled a void that no other person could.' Well, obviously, someone sure as hell did. I'm not dumb. I know what's going on here. You've got yourself another girl, don't you? Well, then, I don't want to have anything to do with you. Have a nice life.  
  
_

Sincerely,  
Dana  
  


He sucked in his breath.  He read it over again.   
  
"I just got your letter a few days ago..."   
  
That couldn't be right! The last letter Fox had sent to her was almost a month ago, and it didn't take mail *that* long to get from England to the U.S. Someone probably screwed with his mail and sent a nasty letter off to Dana. It was probably one of his stupid friends. He got up and walked over to their table.  
  
"All right. Who did it?" he asked in an absolutely no-nonsense voice.  
  
"Did what, BH?" asked his friend, Tom Adamovitz. BH was a nickname he had recently acquired in college. Every day, after class, he'd go to the gym and play basketball with his group of friends. Since he hogged the ball to himself a lot, they nicknamed him Ball Hog - BH for short.   
  
"You know what I'm talking about."  
  
"No we don't!" answered Mark Kalanish.  
  
"Someone wrote a nasty letter to my girlfriend, and I think it was one of you. She's going to ditch me."  
  
"I swear on the Holy Bible, we didn't do it, BH!" protested Kyle Gumto, the religious one of the group.   
  
"We may tease you about her, but we know how much you care about her. We wouldn't do it to you," added Paul Christiensen. Fox looked at all four of them. They all looked pretty innocent. And Paul had a point. They may tease him a lot, but they wouldn't go *that* low. Trouble was, he couldn't figure out who did it.   
  
"I believe you." He sat down to talk with them.  
  
"Any idea of who did it?" asked Mark.  
  
"Nope, none at all. But you know what?" he asked, reconsidering. "It doesn't really matter who did it. I mean as soon as I find out who did it, I'll beat the crap out of them, but other than that, it doesn't matter! I'll just write back to her and explain."  
  
"Yeah, but it's not that simple," said Tom, "What if she doesn't believe you? It will be over with. Besides, you have Phoebe. She is HOT!"  
  
"To tell you the truth, I don't really like her all that much anymore."  
  
"What? Is there something wrong with your head, man?" Paul commented.  
  
"There's nothing wrong with me...I just *don't* like her."  
  
"Hey, if you don't like her, I'll take her in a second!" Kyle put a hand over Paul's mouth.   
  
"Shut up, man! Fox has got trouble."  
  
"Maybe you should call her," Mark offered, "You'd probably be more convincing on the phone."  
  
"That's a good idea. I'll be right back, guys," Fox said, digging in his pocket as he walked to a pay phone. He deposited one dollar in quarters and dialed the numbers, waiting for the call to go through. He waited and waited and waited, but all he heard was dead silence. He hung up the phone and pressed the coin return, willing to try again. Just his luck. The machine had already taken his money.   
  
He rested his head against the phone booth and sighed.  
  
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Fox sat on his bed in his dorm. Phoebe, luckily, was in class, and his roommates, Mark, Paul, Tom, and Kyle were down in the gym playing basketball. He told them he couldn't play with them that night, and they all understood. He picked up the pencil and started writing.  
  
Dear Dana,  
I just got your letter today. I know that this is going to be very hard for you to believe - I don't blame you if you don't - but I didn't write the last letter sent to you. I think someone did it as a cruel joke. But I don't know who...I'm working on finding that out.   
  
I feel that I must be totally honest with you. You have known me now for four years. You know just about everything about my life. You know that I am a lonely person and don't get love that often...my mom rarely shows emotion, and my Dad isn't even home most of the time. You were the only person who ever really loved me. And then, when I went off to college, I was without you. I didn't want to be without you, but I knew I had to go to college. A year ago, I met a girl named Phoebe Greene. She's nice, I suppose, but she's nothing compared to you. I didn't go seeking for a girlfriend; she kind of just...*came* to me. But for some odd reason, I feel myself slowly being extracted from her. I'm not as attracted to her as I used to be. And I'm not even sure if she loves me...it seems like it's all lust - nothing more. I would be willing to ditch her. Especially if you would take me back. I love you with all my heart and all my soul. Hell, I don't want Phoebe!! Please, take me back. Reconsider what I've told you. Please believe me.  
  


Love,  
Fox  
  


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January 25, 1983  
3:45 p.m.  
  
"Jones to control tower. Are we clear for liftoff?" Static replaced Jones' voice.  
  
"All clear. Go ahead," came the reply from the control tower. Jones, the pilot of the new helicopter, pressed a few buttons, and instantly, the chopper jerked to life, its propellers swooshing around slowly at first, then gradually getting faster. When it gained enough speed, it took off into the air. Within a few minutes of being in the air, Jones asked his co-pilot, Petersen, to check the bags and make sure they had picked up all the mail they were supposed to. Reaching behind him, he checked.  
  
"We've got everything," he said a few minutes later. Jones smiled, admiring the control panel and interior of the helicopter.   
  
"Isn't she a beaut?" he asked Petersen. He smiled back. The chopper was brand new, made just a few months before its flight. It was to deliver mail from England to the U.S.   
  
"Sure is." Suddenly, a loud 'beep' filled the small area, forcing both men to put their hands over their ears. Luckily, it ended just as soon as it had come. Jones checked the fuel gage. The pin was resting on E.  
  
"What the hell?! We left with a full tank!"  
  
"We gotta land somewhere NOW!" Petersen yelled.  
  
"There's nowhere! Just look, man! It's flat land! We're going to die!" And with that, the helicopter took a fatal dive straight into the ground.   
  
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January 25, 1983  
4:30 p.m.  
  
It was an ugly scene - blood everywhere, shattered limbs, clothes that were ripped to shreds, and letters were blowing around everywhere, never to be recovered. The county coroner came in and put the bodies in body bags and loaded them into an ambulance...reporters came and went, and a letter to Dana Scully from Fox Mulder blew freely in the wind...  
  
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To be continued...  
  


  
  
  


  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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